Have you ever asked yourself that question? Perhaps after you have unwrapped that hundredth golf themed Christmas or birthday present. Or after that round of hopeless play and scoring having left you bereft of inspiration for the game. Why do you play golf? What is it about this frustrating game that gets under your skin and keeps you returning for more? Is it the masterless nature of the beast? The fact that for every great drive down the fairway there is a duffed iron or foozled chip. Eighteen holes of golf provides plenty of time and opportunity for you to fail and fall well short of your handicap or personal best score. The length of time demanded by this testing game means more concentration is needed than most of us can manage.

Reasons to Consider for Playing Golf

Of course, every now and then we surprise ourselves with one out of the box and a winning score. A collection of shots adds up to something better than the norm. However, closer evaluation of rounds played will usually show more bad than good. A greater investment of time and money than the results can really justify if your accountant was to examine the evidence. Why then do we continue to play this game of golf? Are we masochists by nature? Do we enjoy the savage beating that this game can apply? Or are we so starved of glory in our ageing lives that we take what little we can get? It could be a little of all these things.

Pondering the Elements of the Game of Golf

There are 14 clubs in the bag and a large body of land demanding a volume of different kinds of shots. There is fresh air and exercise to be had. There is green grass and the sounds of nature all around. There is the camaraderie of playing with your mates. All of these elements contribute to the reason why we play golf. For some it is an escape from the complexities of modern life. A change up from the continual concerns of making money. A retreat from the human relationships at the centre of our lives. The narrow focus of manoeuvring a small white sphere around a golf course frees many for those four plus hours spent on course.

Sometimes the strict rules of golf, so clearly defined, provide further relief from the exponential ambiguities of real life. There is a job to be done on the golf course and 14 tools to utilise as you go about it. Perhaps it is what golf is not, as a pastime, which makes it so attractive to many. Is this the Zen nature of the game of golf? Why do you play golf? Will asking this question and finding some answers cast a refreshing light upon your existence? Could it actually contribute to improving your golf? Conversely you may have the attitude that your is not to question why, yours is but to do and die. Don’t think, do! Get out of your head and into your hands and feet. Play golf and leave the thinking to the philosophers. It takes all sorts, after all, my friend.

©RobertHamilton